MOSCOW, March 26 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court on Wednesday upheld the detention of Gleb Fetisov, former member of the upper house of parliament and former co-owner of My Bank, which lost its license in February, RAPSI reported from the courtroom.

Fetisov will remain in detention until April 20.

Defense lawyer asked the court to release ex-senator on 555 million ruble ($15.5 million) bail.  The attorney mentioned during the hearing that Fetisov’s relatives are willing to pay such bail amount for his release. Moreover, the defense lawyer submitted personal surety of 20 people, who also asked to set Fetisov free under their responsibility and guaranteed that he wouldn’t abscond during the investigation or trial. The list of guarantors includes an adviser to president, the State Duma lawmakers and deputies of the municipal bodies.

On February 28, Moscow's Basmanny District Court granted the investigators' motion and detained Fetisov until April 20. The defense asked to release Fetisov on bail or place him under house arrest.

Official spokesman for the Investigative Committe Vladimir Markin said earlier that Fetisov was detained under suspicion of embezzling more than 6 billion rubles from the bank, and shifted the responsibility to repay his client's deposits to the Deposit Insurance Agency.

The Russian Central Bank revoked My Bank's license on January 31. Insurance payments to the bank's clients have been tentatively assessed at 6.5 billion rubles ($179.6 million). Fetisov sold his interest in the bank to private individuals who represented the interests of Russian and foreign investors in December 2013.

The Russian media wrote in late February that the Central Bank had filed a request with the Investigative Committee to examine the activity of Fetisov and the other ex-managers of My Bank.

The Central Bank's request mentioned loan agreements that My Bank had signed over the past three years with apparent dummy companies, as well as potentially irretrievable investments in assets and securities.

According to Forbes, Fetisov is also a co-owner of Altimo, a company that inherited Alfa Eco's food and commodities trading assets and now has major holdings in Russia's telecom industry.